Comment: This might be a story that does the rounds within the Disney parks, but
I'm assured rather sincerely by a friend who worked a stint at one of the
Disneylands that it is true.

If a Disney cruise ship ever needs to be evacuated at sea, the protocol
is that the people who get the first lifeboat (before the women and
children) are two Disney employees. These two employees are required to
take one Mickey Mouse and one Donald Duck costume with them so that
when/if the children arrive to safety they can be greeted by Mickey and
Donald so that they don't get upset thinking that they have gone down with
the ship.

Is there such a thing as the "first lifeboat" these days anyway? Surely not if there are proper evacuation procedures in place. Surely there's no "women and children first" rule either - it would take longer to get all the women and children to the front than it would just to get people onto the lifeboats calmly in the order they arrived.

And I'd expect there to be a couple of crew members per lifeboat, and probably the first on it, as they're the ones who know what they're doing and are helping others to board. The only dubious bit is about the costumes...

All in all, isn't the entire life boat priority thing pretty much a thing of the past? Modern safety rules require enough lifeboats for everybody, and they are designed and arranged so that they can be dropped into the water more or less all at once. In other words, the way it works now is probably more "Everybody into the lifeboats! Go! Go! Go!".

They could, but it seems as though space would be at a premium as far as stores on a lifeboat go, and I'd have thought taking up a lot of it with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck costumes (which must be quite large) wouldn't be a very sensible thing to do. They'd need some on each lifeboat, by the OP logic, in case they all ended up in different places.

It makes no sense anyway - if they're genuinely worried about that issue, just get somebody in Mickey and Donald costumes to hang around while they're making a statement later. Or visit people in hospital, or whatever. They hardly need to be there actually in the lifeboats, or as people disembark. They'd just get in the way.

Having twice been aboard a Disney ship and been through the mandatory exacuation drill, I can tell you that the proceedure is for all passengers to report to a designated area of the ship, such as one of the restaraunts or the theater (you are assigned where to go. The will begin calling out room numbers and the passengers will line up outside the lifeboats and they will enter. The lifeboats will be launced as soon as they are full.

They never mentioned having costumed people there, and I'd imagine that they'd be in the way. The important part during an evacuation is keeping a huge crown or terrified and confused people from stampeding and cruching each other. The costumed employees would only encourage children to run away from parents, causing the parents to spend time looking for the children and refusing to enter the lifeboats in an orderly fashion.

What Richard and Floater (nice tie in between the topic and your screen name) said basically. Space on a lifeboat is limited. They like to fill the stowage areas with junk like food, water, flares fishhooks and a line, or somesuch nonsense.

I don't know if the crew are supposed to be wearing the costumes during evacuation - the implication seems to be that they carry them aboard in case they wash up somewhere remote or something then put them on to calm the one in ten million children that actually believe the people in those suits are Mickey or Donald.

In most cases I suspect we aren't looking at a Robinson Crusoe experience, and the survivors will be picked up pretty quickly by Coastguards and taken to shore where Disney will have people in suits waiting if that is deemed necessary.

Wouldn't it be a bit like a fire evacuation - take yourself and nothing else that might encumber you, however precious. Not " you two go into the storage area and grab a costume, back on deck, and into the lifeboat then eveyone else can get in it. Quicksmart, we're sinking."

The OP seems very far fetched. The possibility of the passengers being marooned anywhere is mighty slim. With the number of cruise ships sailing similar routes, other ships would be on hand within a short time.

We were on a cruise last April when someone ona nother ship went overboard. Our ships and several other cruise ships as well as commercial vessels went to the area to assist in the search. At one point there were four cruise ships circling. Once the Coast Guard was on hand helecoptors joined in the search. Had this been a sinking I am certain even more help would have been on hand in short order.

I got photos of some of the action including cruise ships in usually close proximity to one another.

I'd hazard a guess that if a modern cruise ship did need to be evacuated for some reason, the evacuation would likely take place well before the ship actually sank. In that case, I think kids so young that they believe Mickey and Donald to be real could simply be kept ignorant of the fact that the ship eventually sank and instead be told that it was taken safely to port for repairs.

Having twice been aboard a Disney ship and been through the mandatory exacuation drill, I can tell you that the proceedure is for all passengers to report to a designated area of the ship, such as one of the restaraunts or the theater (you are assigned where to go. The will begin calling out room numbers and the passengers will line up outside the lifeboats and they will enter. The lifeboats will be launced as soon as they are full.

Boy, doesn't that sound elitist? "You in the luxury suites - you meet up on the Lido deck right next to the lifeboats. You in steerage - you meet up in the crew's dining quarters, and hopefully the ship will still be floating by the time the last of you are called to a lifeboat. Oh, and more you bribe me, the sooner your room number is called."

Boy, doesn't that sound elitist? "You in the luxury suites - you meet up on the Lido deck right next to the lifeboats. You in steerage - you meet up in the crew's dining quarters, and hopefully the ship will still be floating by the time the last of you are called to a lifeboat. Oh, and more you bribe me, the sooner your room number is called."

It sounds like Disney seems to think an evacuation will only happen only the best of all possible circumstances. What if a boiler blows amidship, the ship is sinking fast, the crew is in disarray and it's impossible to pass certain parts of the ship?

Boy, doesn't that sound elitist? "You in the luxury suites - you meet up on the Lido deck right next to the lifeboats. You in steerage - you meet up in the crew's dining quarters, and hopefully the ship will still be floating by the time the last of you are called to a lifeboat. Oh, and more you bribe me, the sooner your room number is called."

Umm, no. Every passenger is assigned a muster station (based on their fore/aft cabin location) somewhere on the same deck as the lifeboats; you meet at the muster station, and then the crew takes you to one of the lifeboats assigned to that station. Muster stations aren't assigned based on the lavishness of your cabin accommodations, and they're all in relatively close proximity to the lifeboats themselves.

It sounds like Disney seems to think an evacuation will only happen only the best of all possible circumstances. What if a boiler blows amidship, the ship is sinking fast, the crew is in disarray and it's impossible to pass certain parts of the ship?

No emergency evacuation procedure is ever going to be perfect on any form of transportation.

Much like on an aircraft you are given a lifejacket, your seat can act as a flotation device as can the escape chutes and there are liferafts apparantly. None of which will be of any value if the plane smacks nose first into the sea at whatever its terminal velocity is - because you are screwed.

Transport companies do their best with available technology and knowledge to maximise survivability but it is never going to be a guarantee.

Under the perfect condition that if you wear a seatbelt in my car and I crash into a wall at 30 mph, chances are your injuries will be minimal. If that happens at 100 mph then then you are probably dead. Since there's nothing better, might as well use it.

No emergency evacuation procedure is ever going to be perfect on any form of transportation.

Much like on an aircraft you are given a lifejacket, your seat can act as a flotation device as can the escape chutes and there are liferafts apparantly. None of which will be of any value if the plane smacks nose first into the sea at whatever its terminal velocity is - because you are screwed.

Transport companies do their best with available technology and knowledge to maximise survivability but it is never going to be a guarantee.

I'm not talking a guarantee, jut a plan which will work in a more urgent situation. That plan sounds like a leisurely disembarkment via lifeboats.

I haven't looked at statistics regarding crusie ship evacuations via lifeboat, so maybe they can be reasonably assure that the appropriate crew members will not be indisposed, everyone can get to their assigned section in a timely manner, and there will be time to get everyone on board the lifeboats in such a manner. I just hope they have a plan B as well.

Umm, no. Every passenger is assigned a muster station (based on their fore/aft cabin location) somewhere on the same deck as the lifeboats; you meet at the muster station, and then the crew takes you to one of the lifeboats assigned to that station. Muster stations aren't assigned based on the lavishness of your cabin accommodations, and they're all in relatively close proximity to the lifeboats themselves.

I was certainly being facetious about the locations, but I do wonder about that "when your room number is called, you get to go into a boat", and how that could be abused if people actually listened.